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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25189147">Open Your Eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonersoforlorn/pseuds/Lonersoforlorn'>Lonersoforlorn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargirl (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:22:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25189147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonersoforlorn/pseuds/Lonersoforlorn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All Cindy Burman has to do is open her eyes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>299</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Open your eyes.” Cindy‘s dad demanded of her as she tried to wiggle her way out of his lackey’s grasps. From how she struggled to move Cindy knew her dad had given them a temporary boost so that their strength now matched hers. Funny, just a couple of days ago he was talking about how hard they were to condition to his will, now he was giving them temporary power serums.</p><p>As terrified as Cindy was, she readies herself with a smart remark. One that would make her feel powerful for just a moment. Until her dad hit her with an inevitable dig. A dig about her mother. The only dig that could pierce her invulnerable skin.</p><p>But then she heard the disappointed heavy breath that her father releases. </p><p>”Look away, ” Her dad ordered, speaking to the lackey’s holding her in place. </p><p>Cindy moved around, her movements become more frantic. Her dad’s face was uncovered. He was...Her dreams were filled with recurring nightmares of moments like this. Nightmares that mixed heavily into old suppressed memories. </p><p>On her vanity mirror, Cindy kept a picture of what her father’s true face looked like. It was something that she placed to remind herself that the face that haunted her dreams was an illusion. That her face-</p><p>An image started to conjure up in her mind. His-no, she wouldn’t think of it. That face, his face had haunted too many of her dreams for her to picture it while she was awake. While it was right in front of her. </p><p>She wouldn’t let it happen this time around. She would dodge. She would plead. She would win.</p><p>“I can fix this.” Cindy pleaded, refusing to listen to her dad’s request. She tried to find more words to speak but the words in her mind clanged as her daggers had against Stargirl’s cosmic staff. </p><p>“Open your eyes.” He demanded again then added. “Before I make my minions do it.”</p><p>Her father’s lackeys jerk her back and forth, keeping their tight hold on her. Cindy knew if she leaned too forward or too backward to escape the lackey’s grasps, her father would cause her transformation to feel almost as painful as a mistake her father had patched with stepmother after stepmother.</p><p>“Dad, come on, I kn-“ Cindy stopped herself. She could tell her dad the identity of Stargirl but she liked knowing something he didn’t. She enjoyed the role reversal for a change. She enjoyed finally having more power than him. “Give me another chance to prove myself. I know you saw the footage of my fight with Stargirl. Dad, I was so close to ending her. So close.”</p><p>“And what stopped you?” He asked, not wanting her to answer. “You said Henry didn’t have his father’s powers. So then how did he send you and Stargirl flying across the streets?”</p><p>“How was I supposed to know?” Cindy huffed. Henry was so boring. He never wanted to spend time with her, his focus was entirely on sticking by his dad’s bedside every day. Plus, there was never any indication that he could possibly have his dad’s powers. “He never shared anything like that with me.”</p><p>“Knowing you, your words much like your powers probably punctured him before he ever got the chance to trust you.”</p><p>Cindy’s face twists up. How could someone who had always pushed her away have the nerve to tell her she was emotionally distant? “Seriously? I keep telling you what happened to mom wasn't my fault.”</p><p>It wasn’t her fault. It really wasn’t. She didn’t know her powers. She didn’t understand them. She was just a kid and it was a mistake. A mistake that she wished her father would let go.</p><p>“Cindy, according to you nothing is your fault.” He said, his tone dismissive. “And I just witnessed two of your failures come back to bite you because of your mistakes.“</p><p>“I think it’s time I teach you accountability.” He continued.</p><p>“Come on!” Cindy said, raising her voice. “I almost had her! If I had another chance-“</p><p>“This isn’t a quiz you failed that you can beg for extra credit to pass.” He chastised, cutting her off. “I told you that you weren’t ready. That suit was your graduation gift and you took it without permission!“</p><p>She hears her father take a heavy breath, a sign that his anger was rising. “I tire of your failure, Cindy. Now, open your eyes while I’m still being civil or they’ll make you.”</p><p>“Dad, please,” Cindy begs, hoping for a way out of this. “I’ll convince Henry to join us. I’ll defeat Stargirl! I’ll even be nice to Bobbie for like a day. Just don’t do this.”</p><p>Her dad doesn’t answer but she gets a reply when she feels cold gloves touch her face. She hated it when he touched her. It reminded her of the day he had given her these powers. With every upgrade, she was forced to stay alert and feel every ounce of pain. </p><p>Cindy grounded her teeth, shivering as she pulls away but the glove presses to her face once again.”This wouldn’t be such a punishment for you if you just appreciated the gifts that I’ve given you.“</p><p><em> The gifts that had taken everything away from her. </em>Cindy almost opened her eyes at the thought. As much as she hated how she acquired these powers, she utilized them well. So well that it should earn her a seat at the ISA table. It should earn her a semblance of respect from her dad. But it’s earned her nothing. It’s only taken everyone away. </p><p>Cindy knew the next sentence that would come out of her father’s mouth. Just the thought of it made her shiver even more than feeling the cold glove pressed on her face.</p><p>“After all, Cindy, you're my greatest experiment.” He stated.</p><p>Her dad stops touching her face but then she feels a tight grip on her cheeks that jolts her eyes open in surprise. Cindy is face to face with her nightmare. A nightmare she can’t dwell on long because her skin begins to peel. Until all that is left are scales of green that mirror the scales on the face in front of her.</p><p>
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</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cindy’s eyes are open.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cindy’s eyes are open, her hands are clenched into fists and she lies on the ground with her cheek squashed onto the floor. She feels like she's been ironed out, her body as flat as the ground she fell on. Whatever her father sprayed in the cell earlier had drained her of her energy and she was too weak to move.</p><p>All Cindy could do is stare at the door of her prison cell. Wondering. Wishing. Demanding. That her words got through to him.</p><p>”A father wouldn't...” Cindy starts, her words are tumbling till nothing more could echo out. Her thoughts become a sluggish elevator making too many stops. They stop at the many memories she has of being trapped in this very cell.</p><p>He had locked her in here once on her birthday. She was nine and she had her birthday cake still smushed to her fingers. Another time, she had broken one of her stepmother’s arms after forgetting her own strength. That time she was insistent that it was an accident. But he didn’t believe her and rubbed in the accident that destroyed her once before.</p><p><em>He loves me.</em> She finds herself arguing with her doubt. Arguing with her perception of her memories. Father’s love their daughters. Parents love their children. Cindy was loved.</p><p>Cindy was trapped in a prison cell by her own father just as she had been so many times before. Earlier she had screamed. She had pleaded, hoping that he’d finally reveal that he was just messing with her. That her memories were all lies.</p><p>She wasn't going to be here long. She’d be here for a short while. To scare her. To make her more controllable. According to her father, she is unpredictable. She is fueled by ego and ego alone. She is not calculating. She is a fail...</p><p>Cindy blinks. None of that was true. Her father never meant it when he said those types of things. He was clearly nervous about her safety. He just wants to protect her as a good father would.</p><p>But Cindy could protect herself. She had defeated every brainwashed minion her father had thrown at her in the name of training. She could've even taken the ones who helped throw her in this cell. He knew that and that’s why he enhanced them with her abilities and somehow made them stronger.</p><p><em>Help me.</em> She remembered the cry of a brainwashed member who had come to. His eyes were alert but his movements were choppy. For some reason, her mind didn’t register that he was coming closer and closer to her. When he grabbed a tight hold of her wrist, her eyes only got wider. It wasn’t until seconds later that she screamed for her father.</p><p>But he wasn’t here. He wasn’t even home. He had left Cindy to deal with her stepmother who acted like a character in a fifties family show. And like a mom in a fifties family show, she had no idea what Cindy was ever doing.</p><p>Cindy had snuck down once again to her father’s villain headquarters to play with things she was never allowed to touch. He hated it when she called it that but it was better than the alternative name she had picked up from her last stepmother. A name she was not allowed to repeat because it disregarded all of the efforts and work her father put in his experiments.</p><p>
  <em>“This is my paradise. Only good things happen here.” Her dad said, his voice full of pride that was never aimed at her.</em>
</p><p>Cindy stopped screaming and the man asked her once again for her help. She didn’t answer, instead, she placed her free hand on top of her captured one and pulled. Her hand stayed firm in his grip as his desperation made his strength ten times as strong as hers.</p><p>”Why should I help you?” She had asked, her face turned so she couldn't look at him directly in the eye.</p><p>”You’re just a weapon to him and look at you. You're so young.” He says, his voice trembles as he goes on. ”I was young. He took me...made me into this. But you can help.”</p><p>”My dad loves me. I’m not his weapon. I’m his daughter.” Cindy corrected, hating that pang of pity she detected in his tone.</p><p>It was the same tone her teachers used whenever her father failed to show up at a parent-teacher conference during the first year they had to deal with Cindy’s mistake. When the lack of interaction from home was starting to cause teachers to contact him, he had reacted by gifting Cindy a new stepmother when all she had wanted was for him to see her.</p><p>”Loves you?” He says, shaking his head in disagreement. ”Father's don't show their daughters love by making them into weapons.”</p><p>”He did it to protect me.” Cindy answered, her voice sharp as the blades that extract from her wrists. When she reached over to him with her free arm to push him away, she doesn’t realize that the blades in her wrists were free. He fell and her eyes widened. She looked around frantic not because she feared for his life but because she knew what the scene before her looked like. An exact replica of what she did to her mom.</p><p>But that was a mistake. And this, well, it wasn't intentional either but Cindy would shed no tears whenever she looked back on it. The only thing that would stick with her and follow her around for years is how sure that man was that her father didn't love her.</p><p><em>He loves me</em>. She repeats the sentence over and over, trying to drown out that man’s words. Trying to drown out that familiar scene.</p><p>But her body won't let her forget. She can feel a hot tear trailing down scaly skin. She is too weak to reach up and wipe it away. So more tears join.</p><p>Finally, she gets frustrated and loathes her feeble display. She musters up the strength to bring her hand to her face. Her fingers brush off her tears and they touch deceivingly smooth skin. A lie. A cruel lie.</p><p>She had his face. She remembered the first time she saw the echo of him in her mirror. It was on the day...Cindy’s breath hitches. A scene replays in her mind of a scared girl running from her reflection. She sees a woman trailing behind her. Her mom.</p><p>Cindy inserts her older self into the memory. She begs her mother to stop chasing her. To let her be. For when Cindy’s mom finally catches her and embraces her tightly in her arms it will lead to her end. To the mistake that Cindy could never forget. The mistake she wished her father could forgive.</p><p>He would never forgive her. She could see it when he avoided her eyes when she spoke. She could feel it when he forced hers open to transform into her nightmare. He never saw her mistake as an accident. He saw Cindy as the monster. His failed experiment. </p><p>She lets the realization settle inside her heart. It pumps out the acid of truth through her veins until finally, it reaches her mind. <em>He doesn't love me</em>. Cindy’s eyes are open.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for the comments and kudos!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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